Why I switched from Apple Music to YouTube Music after 5 years

I won’t lie — it turned out to be a pretty good decision. The subscription came bundled with YouTube Music, which, at the time, I didn’t think much of either. In my head, I was never really going to use it. I already had Apple Music, my playlists were set, and I wasn’t looking to switch. But one random evening, I opened YouTube Music out of curiosity, and I am glad I did.

What started as a test drive turned into something I kept going back to. Which is surprising, considering I’ve been an iPhone user for years and spent a good five years with Apple Music. I never really thought I’d look elsewhere, but I guess that’s how it works. You think you’re settled, that your preferences are set in stone, and then, over time, something new slips in and completely changes that.

By now, you probably know the kind of person I am. Once I get used to something, I tend to stick with it, including my music. And honestly, I’d rather replay songs I already know than take a chance on one bad recommendation. Because Apple Music gave me a few too many of those moments, sticking to what was familiar just started feeling easier.

However, that mindset started to shift when I began using YouTube Music. The recommendations felt much more considered. Even when I stepped slightly outside my usual genre, it didn’t lose the thread. The next song still felt like it was building on what I had just heard instead of abruptly changing direction.

And that changed the whole listening experience and helped me explore new artists.

I have my reasons for getting frustrated. I remember this one time I was deep into a techno track on Apple Music. I was in that zone, completely locked into the rhythm, and then out of nowhere, it jumped to a Bollywood song. It caught me so off guard. I kept wondering how it missed something so obvious. Why was it so hard to just stay in the same lane? It just didn’t make sense.

And it’s not just about that one moment. Imagine this happening while you’re driving, or right in the middle of a workout when you’ve finally found your pace. That sudden shift breaks everything. It pulls you out of it. In those moments, all you really want is for the app to read the room a little better.

That’s exactly where YouTube Music started to feel different for me. It just gets it. I remember starting with Rasputin on YouTube Music, and the recommendations that followed stayed in that same energetic space. In fact, I ended up discovering a bunch of high-energy tracks I wouldn’t have normally clicked on.

And that’s exactly the difference I’m talking about. It keeps things consistent throughout, almost like it understands what I’m trying to hold on to in that moment. Because at the end of the day, music is supposed to make you feel lighter, more in sync with yourself. If it ends up doing the opposite and starts irritating you, then something isn’t quite right.

Beyond that, using YouTube Music just feels easy. It’s clean, functional, and it stays out of the way, which is really all I want from a music app. I’ll admit, Apple Music still has the edge in interface design, and it also offers Lossless audio. But at this point, I’m okay giving up a bit of that polish if it means the listening experience actually works better for me.

What makes it even easier to stick with it is how smoothly everything else falls into place. Offline listening works without any friction, the library has everything I’ve needed so far, and if I want to, I can even upload my own music files directly. There’s no extra effort involved; it just works the way you expect. And the fact that all of this runs smoothly on my Fire TV and MacBook — the two devices I end up using the most while I’m working and listening to music — just makes it even easier to stay with it.

Ultimately, it all comes down to the ease and value of using YouTube Music. Since it comes bundled with a YouTube Premium subscription, I don’t have to pay extra for the Music app either. Five years of Apple Music, and all it took was one random evening of curiosity to change everything. Funny how the best decisions rarely feel like decisions at all.